Our Text for this series:
Hebrews 5:12-14 NKJV
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 6:1-2 NKJV
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Today we are going to talk about “repentance from dead works.”. Jesus didn’t call us to acceptance and to love everyone unconditionally. He didn’t call us to tolerate, or to put up with, or to join in with worldly ways. Jesus called us to repent, which in the Greek means to change our mind, to make a decision to change, to turnaround from the direction we are headed . It is a mental decision, it is not to be confused with the emotional feelings of regret. As Christians, when we come to Christ we need to understand that it’s not about acceptance and tolerance and unconditional love, just put that aside along with any other preconceived ideas of what “coming to Christ” looks like. Let’s keep it about getting planted and rooted in Christ and growing up in him and becoming full sons and daughters, let’s set that as your vision. The goal of this series will be understanding what the “elementary principles of Christ” are so that you can build a strong foundation.
2 Corinthians 7:8 NASB
For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—
Hebrews 7:21 KJV
(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
Matthew 3:7-8 NASB
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
Matthew 9:13 KJV
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Mark 2:17 KJV
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
So when we start talking about dead works, we naturally want to know what it is. John Wesley calls it “open sins”, and the Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible says “not springing from the vital principle of faith and love toward God, and so counted, like their doer, dead before God.”
James 4:4 NRSV
Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Romans 5:6,8,10 NASBS
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
So we see here with scripture that repentance from dead works; repentance meaning turning away from, doing an about face, making that mental decision to change the way you are, changing the direction your life is going, and dead works being anything that separates you from God. So we’re looking at the sin nature of man, when Adam fell, that we received under the law of sin and death.
So this answers the question how does a person become a born-again believer if they don’t have faith in the first place. You see, repentance from dead works is the mental choice to change the direction your life is going, to making that change and deciding to come back to God. You will see as we go through this series that when you make that mental decision and you come back to God, receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are given the Holy Spirit, the God kind of Love, and the measure of faith. There is much more that you can receive, but this is a good group for you to understand.
I want to take a few minutes here and talk about some of the lies that the devil tries to sell to believers.
But it’s important to understand that what the devil, through the world, says about Jesus preaching acceptance and tolerance is a lie. He did not call us to accept or to tolerate what the devil, through the world, does. Instead He called us to infiltrate, to go in like a physician to a sickly person, and to offer assistance to that person in the way of Jesus Christ. It is up to that person if they choose Jesus or if they choose the devil, that’s not our decision. Jesus desires for us to be on fire for him the way you see so many worldly people on fire for their favorite sports team, their favorite holiday, or their favorite reality show. None of these get you into heaven. None of these grow you in the Lord or better your fellowship with God which is our vision, to become full sons and daughters. These things actually become idols to so many Christians and it is sinful. I’m not saying that as Christians we can’t enjoy sports, holidays, or TV, what I am saying is that we can’t allow them to get between us and God, because when they do, they become a god to us.
So if you do a search for the word “acceptance” in the Bible, you will find approximately four instances of the word. There are one in the Old Testament and three in the New Testament, and none of them speak to “acceptance” of other people or their beliefs or their morals or values. If you do a search for the word “tolerance” what you are gonna come up with is three different verses in the New Testament. One of those is going to apply to the word, the other two apply to born-again believers. The first is to the church in Ephesus, which is full of born-again believers, so it is written to the brethren and speaks of tolerance. Now the second verse is in Second Timothy which is a letter written to Timothy specifically, who, again, is a believer. None of these verses are written in context to worldly people, that is people who are not born-again believers. You have to keep it in context to who they were speaking to, otherwise you could make the word say anything you want it too.
“Repentance from dead works” is one of the “elementary principles of Christ” and simply means that we are making a mental decision to go after Jesus instead of the world. Jesus isn’t the end of the journey, He’s the beginning.
In John 17:13-21 NASB Jesus says:
But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.